The present invention relates generally to data communication networks. More specifically, the present invention relates to a virtual queuing system using proximity-based short-range wireless links.
In a typical day many people come into contact with a massive number of electronically controlled devices. Such devices range from automobiles and appliances, to home and office equipment, and to telephones and televisions to name but a few. Many of these devices are required to move from time to time, and many of these devices are even portable. These devices provide a vast and diverse assortment of services for the people coming into contact with them. However, they suffer from a common problem related to user input and output (I/O).
User I/O refers to components and processes used to communicate user-supplied data to an electronic device and to annunciate data from an electronic device so the data may be perceived by a user. Although electronic devices provide a vast and diverse assortment of services, they tend to have redundant I/O. In other words, many such devices have displays, speakers, and the like at which data may be annunciated and have buttons, switches, keypads, and other controls at which user-supplied data may be communicated to the devices. In order to keep costs low and size small, user I/O capabilities often suffer. As a result, many electronic devices encountered in everyday life, and particularly many portable devices, are cumbersome and tedious to use because communicating data from a user to the devices is difficult and because provisions are unavailable for clearly annunciating data for a user""s benefit.
In theory, this user I/O problem could be ameliorated by better integrating electronic devices to ease data communications therebetween. For example, a portable telephone could receive a facsimile (fax), but typically has no capability to print the fax and no capability to communicate with a printer which may be able to print the fax. Likewise, a pager may receive a call-back phone number, but typical pagers have no capability to transfer the call-back number to a telephone from which the call-back can be made. User involvement is required to address these and many other data transfer issues. While many conventional data communication or computer network architectures are known, the conventional architectures are unsuitable for the task of integrating a plurality of electronic devices which collectively provide a vast and diverse assortment of services.
Conventional computer networks require excessively complicated setup or activation procedures. Such setup and activation procedures make the jobs of forming a connection to a new network node and making changes in connectibility permission cumbersome at best. Setup and activation procedures are instituted, at least in part, to maintain control of security and to define network addresses. Typically, a system administration level of security clearance is required before access is granted to network tables that define the network addresses. Thus, in conventional networks, many network users lack sufficient security clearance to activate and obtain addresses of network nodes with which they may wish to connect on their own.
Once setup is performed, either directly by a user or by a system administrator, connections are formed when an initiating node presents the network with the address of a network node to which a connection is desired. The setup or activation requirements of conventional networks force nodes to know or obtain a priori knowledge of node addresses with which they wish to connect prior to making the connection. Excessive user attention is involved in making the connection through setup procedures and during the instant of connection to obtain addresses. This level of user involvement leads to an impractical network implementation between the everyday electronic devices with which people come into contact.
Further, conventional computer networks tend to be infrastructure intensive. The infrastructure includes wiring, servers, base stations, hubs, and other devices which are dedicated to network use but have no substantial non-network use to the computers they interconnect. The use of extensive network components is undesirable for a network implementation between everyday electronic devices because an immense expense would be involved to support such an infrastructure and because it impedes portability and movability of nodes.
The use of wiring to interconnect network nodes is a particularly offensive impediment to the use of conventional networks because wiring between diverse nodes is not suitable when some of the nodes are portable. Wireless communication links could theoretically solve the wiring problem. And, conventional wireless data communication networks are known. However, the conventional wireless networks do little more than replace wire lines with wireless communication links. An excessive amount of infrastructure and excessive user involvement in setup procedures are still required.